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A dozen Kelowna United and UBCO Junior Heat soccer teams will be represented at BC Soccer championship tournaments next month.
Four of the teams guaranteed their berths in provincial competitions with gold-medal performances at the Thompson Okanagan Youth Soccer League playoffs in Penticton on the weekend.
The United U18 boys, U17 boys and U16 boys all struck gold in Penticton while the United U16 girls also claimed a TOYSL title and will represent the league at the Provincial B Cup in Burnaby July 5-8.
The KU under-15 (TOYSL silver) and U18 girls (TOYSL bronze) will travel to Burnaby as well, having been invited by the BC Soccer provincial tournament officials.
Meanwhile, the six Junior Heat teams (U13, U14 and U15 boys and girls) will represent the Thompson Okanagan at the Provincial A Cup being played in Richmond July 5-8. No other TOYSL teams challenged them for the A Cup berth.
Kelowna United U18 Boys
Neill Brown’s goal in sudden-death overtime capped the Kelowna United U18 boys’ 2-1 gold-medal performance at the TOYSL playoff in Penticton and earned a berth at the BC Soccer Provincial B Cup in Burnaby.
United played Kamloops to a 1-1 draw in regulation time while the game was still tied at the end of two 15-minute OT periods, setting the stage for Brown’s heroics.
Harrison de Haas scored United’s goal in regulation time off a feed from Jason Hesketh.
Kelowna United U16 Boys
A pair of wins over Kamloops Blaze kept the KU U16 boys’ season-long unbeaten record intact and earned them a berth at the Provincial B Cup.
Two-goal efforts by Nate Gilbert and Brett Martin and single markers from Zack McInnes, Josh Clancy and Jaden Lohn led to a 7-0 victory in the first game of the two-game total-goal series on Sunday in Penticton.
In the opening game, KU downed Kamloops 3-0 on goals by Martin, Gilbert and Kale Mistal. Goalkeeper Eric Dueck recorded both shutouts.
Kelowna United U16 Girls
Two shutout wins over the Kamloops Blaze in Penticton earned the United U16 girls their berth at BC Soccer’s Provincial B Cup.
Goals by Miranda Lutes and Kaley Krivoshein in the second half led to a 2-0 KU victory in the first game of the two-game total-goal series on Saturday.
Both teams worked hard, but neither could break through the defences for a goal in the opening half.
United began creating chances in the second half with well-timed attacking runs, and intelligent combination plays through the middle of the pitch.
The Kamloops goalkeeper played an exceptional game, but in the 52nd minute, Chloe Howe bounced a free kick off the crossbar while Lutes put the ball away on the rebound.
Kelowna kept up the pressure and made it pay off as Lindsay Notte fed a deft through ball to Krivoshein who out-battled the Kamloops defender and tucked the ball into the bottom corner to close out the scoring.
The second game saw Kamloops come on with a feverish attack, but the Kelowna defence and midfield were more than up to the task, breaking up plays consistently and frustrating their opponents.
Although down to two subs, Kelowna carried the possession and was able to limit Kamloops to one quality chance on goal in the first half, but it was easily turned away by KU keeper Tayshja Clark.
The second half saw Kamloops play much the same attacking style, which cost them dearly in the 49th minute as Payton Ward broke up a Kamloops attack and sent Howe on a counter-attacking run. She finished with a laser strike into the top of the netting for the winning goal, the TOYSL gold medal, and a trip to the BC Provincial B Cup.
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